Proposal to Revive Coliseum as NFL Site Gains Steam

More than $100 million in publicly funded earthquake renovations did nothing to persuade the NFL that the Coliseum should be the home of a new pro football franchise.

Yet the possibility of a new sports arena--even though it would be built more than 25 blocks away--has resulted in a strong push by a broad coalition of city officials to revive interest in the aging landmark. And it has even garnered new attention from pro football officials who had previously dismissed the Coliseum as hopelessly obsolete.

In a dizzying week that began with city officials waxing poetic about a proposed sports arena next to the Los Angeles Convention Center--and ended with two leading city businessmen making a pitch for a new football stadium next to the new arena--one of the more intriguing political angles was the unusual alliance that coalesced around the Coliseum.

Mayor Richard Riordan and City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas rarely agree on any issue. But the pair were among 11 signers of a letter calling for a “totally revamped” Coliseum to go along with the new arena.

“A political will and unity now exist in the city, as the arena negotiations to bring the Lakers and Kings to Los Angeles demonstrate, which give huge momentum to the new Coliseum concept,” states the letter, also signed by Council President John Ferraro and leaders of the Community Redevelopment Agency and Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Why would Riordan and Ridley-Thomas stand shoulder to shoulder on such a possibly quixotic quest?

Sources close to the negotiations say that Ridley-Thomas, who represents Exposition Park, lobbied hard to link the historic Coliseum to the Kings’ recently unveiled proposal to build a $200-million arena next to the Convention Center.

“A critical point in time presented itself where we needed to get the business of the arena done, and my help was sought, and I said to them--and I meant it--I wanted Exposition Park to benefit from the energy, expertise and all the forces that we could bring to bear,” Ridley-Thomas said last week. “My statement was, rather than think about one revitalization project, let’s think about two.”

Riordan, for his part, wanted to keep solid ranks behind the arena plan that will need City Council approval. Not to mention the embarrassment to the city of giving up on a existing public facility that just underwent such expensive--albeit mainly federally funded--repairs.

“How can the mayor of any city not fight for the urban core? How can the council of any city not fight for the urban core?” said Steven Soboroff, the mayor’s point man on both the arena deal and football negotiations. “That doesn’t mean the Coliseum wins, but the resources are put together for a hard shot at it.”

The obstacles for pro football at the home of the 1932 and 1984 Olympics remain enormous--NFL owners have long expressed concerns about the safety of the neighborhood surrounding Exposition Park as well as the city-county-state commission that controls the site, and three previous pro clubs have fled the facility.

As well, NFL Senior Vice President Roger Goodell has reiterated that the league is looking for a new stadium, not a renovated antique.

However, Goodell added that owners would listen to the Coliseum’s latest pitch--which will include a $150-million, state-of-the-art stadium inside the historic walls, prepared by a Kansas City architectural firm that has designed some of the nation’s premier new stadiums.

League officials also sent an encouraging message to Coliseum backers last week by suggesting specific criteria that they should address when making their presentation to owners in October to combat the Coliseum’s current negative image in the league.

“The Coliseum was, fundamentally, considered dead meat a year ago,” said one person familiar with L.A.’s football negotiations who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “Now, they’re in the hunt.”

If the NFL continues to look askance at the Coliseum, there appears to be little downside for Riordan. He already has won solid support for the downtown arena proposal that his office helped negotiate, and he could quickly jump on board the tentative $300-million football stadium proposal announced last Friday by businessmen Lod Cook and Sheldon Ausman, or an anticipated plan by Dodger owner Peter O’Malley to build a football showcase next to his baseball park.

Ridley-Thomas, however, has an added risk. If the proposed Kings/Lakers arena is built, the aging Sports Arena next to the Coliseum, which is now occupied on a one-year lease by the L.A. Clippers, stands in further peril of turning into a white elephant--just as the Coliseum could next door.